Before heading off for spring break, the Quakers will first have to jump over some hurdles.
Two 6-foot-8 hurdles to be exact.
Penn (12-13, 6-5 Ivy) will hit the home stretch of its season on the road, first against a hot Harvard team led by a formidable forward combo in sophomore Kyle Casey and junior Keith Wright.
Casey and Wright, who have averaged a combined 29.4 points and 16.7 rebounds in conference play for the second place Crimson (21-5, 10-2), will be a force to be reckoned with on Friday night.
“You’ve just got to make them work hard and not give them anything easy,” senior forward Jack Eggleston said. “With those guys, there’s a really small margin for error, and if you make any kind of mistake they’re going to make you pay.”
Eggleston may be specifically referring to their previous encounter.
Penn last met Harvard on Feb. 5 at the Palestra in a double-overtime thriller. The Quakers came from behind to force both overtimes, but were ultimately unable to pull it out, losing 83-82. Wright scored a game-high 25 points, and Casey was not too far behind with 18 of his own. Both big men were dominant down on the block.
Going into this game, the Quakers will hope to limit the production of the Crimson duo, which shot a combined 16-for-25 (64 percent) last time.
“We’ve got to have more team defense guarding those guys instead of leaving guys stranded,” junior Zack Rosen said. “Looking at the tape, they got too many clean looks last time.”
In addition to shoring up their defense down low, the Quakers will have the chance to derail the Crimson’s title hopes in Boston. A Harvard loss to Penn would likely give Princeton a critical two-game lead over the Crimson in the Ivy standings, assuming the Tigers do away with last-place Dartmouth Friday night.
Though Harvard will come first, Penn will have to keep up their intensity going up against the Big Green Saturday.
In their last encounter, the Quakers pummeled Dartmouth (5-21, 1-11) in a 78-47 victory. However, Penn expects a tougher matchup this time around, especially since it has to travel up to Hanover, N.H.
“It’s going to be their senior night, so it’s a big game for them,” Eggleston said. “We’ve got to match their intensity and come out, and play hard for 40 minutes.”
Though the loss against Cornell last weekend officially took the Quakers out of contention for the Ivy League title, the team is still looking to end the season well. They cap the season hosting Princeton on Tuesday.
“Three wins for Penn is what we need,” Rosen said. “We’re just trying to go out there and win some games.”
Though the Quakers are in the unique position of potentially playing spoiler to Harvard and Princeton, the Quakers are only concerned about themselves — as has been the case all season.
“We don’t care what other teams’ plans are for after the season,” Eggleston said. “We just go in with the intention of winning that game.”
Rosen added, “These last few games are important for us. Really.”
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